Whereas Whedon and Black are hugely talented writers and directors who may not have been troubling the multiplexes over the last few years but clearly have the abilities to make a great Iron Man or Avengers movie, regardless of recent box-office successes. So I'm glad Marvel are being more-open minded than 'how big/ when was his last hit?'

As Aragorn mentioned earlier, Marvel are also looking to hire directors at reasonably low rates. If that makes them more open to talented directors who can do good work despite not having a big budget track record that's all well and good, but their penny-pinching and pushing to fast-track certain films can also be to the detriment of their films and drive talented people away.